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Leslie Wayne | Not Forgotten 1 & 2

viewing_room
2019
  • LESLIE WAYNE | NOT FORGOTTEN 1 & 2 “I’ve been gazing out the window a lot this past year, reflecting...

    Not Forgotten 1 & 2

     

    LESLIE WAYNE | NOT FORGOTTEN 1 & 2

     

    “I’ve been gazing out the window a lot this past year, reflecting on the collision of events in this moment…Sometimes it feels like all I can muster, just gazing out the window. And yet it feels like precisely the right thing to do, to take a moment to reflect, looking inward as I gaze outside.” – Leslie Wayne reflects in 2021, during the midst of ongoing societal turmoil including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

     

    Titled Not Forgotten 1 & 2, Leslie Wayne’s two woodblock, silkscreen, and relief prints, combine five impressions in up to fourteen colors on Somerset Satin 300gsm paper,  measuring 30 x 22 inches each and released in an edition of twenty-five. The series depicts broken, boarded up windows, pulling their imagery directly from themes often explored in her larger body of work. For Wayne, the broken window motif acts as an enigmatic meditation on artistic illusionism and urgent contemporary issues – both foreshadowing and reflecting on the societal issues the world has faced since the release of these editions. As a New Yorker, Wayne’s windows are also charged with associations of previous issues she has experienced in her own city, including the infamous policing strategy called the “broken windows theory” as well as New York’s recovery from 2012’s destructive Hurricane Sandy. In the latter case, these windows could be almost anywhere, with natural disasters increasing across the world at an alarming rate.

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    However, these works don't necessarily evoke doom. As Wayne says, "broken windows tell a story of damage, and the possibility of repair." Her windows are a direct commentary on the broken world she sees around her, but also offer a sense of hope in the ability to heal. Wayne relates this to the Japanese craft tradition Kintsugi, the act of repairing pottery with gold – though once damaged, the piece becomes more valuable having endured that experience.

     

    Not Forgotten 1 and 2 relate to Wayne's larger practice in both motif and technique. Wayne is known for her highly dimensional use of paint which she works with in an almost sculptural way. She uses paint like any other material – scraping, manipulating, cutting, forming – to build each work of art. Though not three-dimensional, Wayne approaches printmaking in a very similar manner; she makes the material work for her instead of abiding by traditional techniques. Instead of rolling ink on a surface as is typically done in relief printing, Wayne uses a palette knife to scrape a puddle of ink onto a piece of plexiglass to create the unique, marbled surface seen in Not Forgotten 1 that she refers to as "toxic ooze," a metaphor for her unease. The juxtaposition of this illusory surface with the verisimilitude of the wooden frame surrounding them create a surrealist image. Both works invite you to reflect upon yourself and your impact on the world around you, while also reminding you of your role in that world's repair – as Wayne says, "a broken window is also an invitation for some sort of renewal. A window can be fixed, new histories can be made."

  • Ink scraped on plexiglass for Not Forgotten 1 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Lola Wegman | Loading jig for Not Forgotten 2 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Leslie Wayne, Aurora McFee, Ethan Waits | Proofing Not Forgotten 1 & 2 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Ink puddle for relief on Not Forgotten 1 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Ink scraped on plexiglass for Not Forgotten 1

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    Not Forgotten 1 & 2 are editions of 25 and are available directly through Durham Press. For more information on these works, or about previous pieces that Wayne has produced with Durham Press, please contact sales@durhampress.com.

    • Leslie Wayne, Not Forgotten 1, 2019
      Artworks

      Leslie Wayne

      Not Forgotten 1, 2019
      Woodblock, Screenprint, and Hand-painted Relief
      Variant Edition
      Somerset Satin 300gsm Standard White
      30 x 22 inches
      (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
      Edition of 25
    • Leslie Wayne, Not Forgotten 2, 2019
      Artworks

      Leslie Wayne

      Not Forgotten 2, 2019
      Woodblock, Screenprint, and Hand-painted Relief
      Variant Edition
      Somerset Satin 300gsm Standard White
      30 x 22 inches
      (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
      Edition of 25

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